It would seem that if indeed there was technology to shoot down a meteor with incredible destructive power they would us it and keep it secret. I don't know.. I think it's entirely in the realm Of possibility, although I'm not sure how they could get any kind of way for a weapon to catch it

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psyche101 19,694

No reason to think this was a weapon, although the more credulous zealots will no doubt lap this up.

Remember this is not unique to the USSR, the Tunguska event in 1908 was bigger.

If they had a situation like this, Jim Oberg explained it best. All one needs do is put rockets on the thing and accelerate it. We know we can do that. Like 2 cars coming to an intersection, if one arrives early, no problem, if they arrive at the same time, bam. Just get the thing to pass by before earths orbit places the planet in danger.

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psyche101 19,694

True, but If the footage is real it does look like something blew through it.

I disagree, it looks like it broke up.

People are out collecting the fragments. And such a weapon would leave a trace of some kind, not a fusion crust as a meteor does, and I doubt the maker of any such fictional weapon would be too pleased about so many people having proof of this weapon.

It looks like piece broke off but accelerated ahead of it, that's a bit strange considering the speeds . If you look closely it does look like something did come up behind it aswell at 0.47, but it would not be hard to fake I imagine. I think it's an interesting prospect.

Yes the video is very cool. I don't think a meteor breaking up has ever been filmed like that. It's awesome

Edited February 20, 2013 by Seeker79

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psyche101 19,694

It looks like piece broke off but accelerated ahead of it, that's a bit strange considering the speeds . If you look closely it does look like something did come up behind it aswell at 0.47, but it would not be hard to fake I imagine. I think it's an interesting prospect.

Yes the video is very cool. I don't think a meteor breaking up has ever been filmed like that. It's awesome

It is the atmosphere in those clips. Areodynamics are bound to have some effect on the fragments. I think if one piece did move faster that such is quite plausible. Good catch if so.

One did hit Utah in 2009, quite spectacular and broke up in the air like the Russian one. It happened after Midnight so not many saw it:

Good commercial on Youtube, it is not real though, it is a car ad

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Rlyeh 8,479

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It looks like piece broke off but accelerated ahead of it, that's a bit strange considering the speeds . If you look closely it does look like something did come up behind it aswell at 0.47, but it would not be hard to fake I imagine. I think it's an interesting prospect.

Could've been pressure from the rock heating up.

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Zaphod222 1,116

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ChrLzs 10,845

I'd very strongly suggest, on just a quick look, that the 'sparks' are in fact optical effects caused by a scratched lens/coverglass/window/windscreen.

I mean, *think* about it and look at the image. Note the straight lines going up and down from the brightest portion? The angled one going at about 45 degrees? Are those 'real' - of course not, they are optical 'flares'.

The effects look exactly to me like what you get from a window with erratic microscratching - when you are driving at night in an old car with wiper-induced scratches or smearing, you will get the same effects - streaks that emanate outwards from a bright light source.

And yes, they can most definitely go forwards... Depends on the angle/motion of camera/glass and the motion of the object. And given all those videos of this, why was this the only one? A magically super-sensitive lens and sensor? Or shooting thru scratched/smeared media.. I'll go with Occam's razor..

I'd very strongly suggest, on just a quick look, that the 'sparks' are in fact optical effects caused by a scratched lens/coverglass/window/windscreen.

I mean, *think* about it and look at the image. Note the straight lines going up and down from the brightest portion? The angled one going at about 45 degrees? Are those 'real' - of course not, they are optical 'flares'.

The effects look exactly to me like what you get from a window with erratic microscratching - when you are driving at night in an old car with wiper-induced scratches or smearing, you will get the same effects - streaks that emanate outwards from a bright light source.

And yes, they can most definitely go forwards... Depends on the angle/motion of camera/glass and the motion of the object. And given all those videos of this, why was this the only one? A magically super-sensitive lens and sensor? Or shooting thru scratched/smeared media.. I'll go with Occam's razor..

Yes I'd did look a little semetrical .

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White Crane Feather 4,959

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The claim is the Russians have a secret weapon that can destroy small asteroids. They also tracked a small asteroid that no one else even saw. They allowed this asteroid to enter the atmosphere over their territory and reach a low enough altitude so that destroying it would cause billions of Roubles of damage on the ground. They then chose to intercept the asteroid (with this top secret weapon they don't want anyone to know about) over a populated region where there were tens of thousands of witnesses and hundreds of video cameras to observe the event. Yeah, it makes perfect sense.

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Jacques Terreur 2,384

The claim is the Russians have a secret weapon that can destroy small asteroids. They also tracked a small asteroid that no one else even saw. They allowed this asteroid to enter the atmosphere over their territory and reach a low enough altitude so that destroying it would cause billions of Roubles of damage on the ground. They then chose to intercept the asteroid (with this top secret weapon they don't want anyone to know about) over a populated region where there were tens of thousands of witnesses and hundreds of video cameras to observe the event. Yeah, it makes perfect sense.

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Rafterman 6,503

The claim is the Russians have a secret weapon that can destroy small asteroids. They also tracked a small asteroid that no one else even saw. They allowed this asteroid to enter the atmosphere over their territory and reach a low enough altitude so that destroying it would cause billions of Roubles of damage on the ground. They then chose to intercept the asteroid (with this top secret weapon they don't want anyone to know about) over a populated region where there were tens of thousands of witnesses and hundreds of video cameras to observe the event. Yeah, it makes perfect sense.

Not to mention, the folks at JPL are now estimating that the meteor was traveling at around 44,000 miles-per-hour. That's about Mach 58.

The fastest intercept missiles using hypersonic scramjet technology are currently in development and they are looking at speeds of around Mach 6. The fastest missiles in existence are ICBMs that reach mach speeds in the mid teens upon reentry.

So the notion that an interceptor exists that can hit something traveling at Mach 58 is a bit far fetched.

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Frank Merton 17,395

I haven't read through this entire thread, so forgive me if someone else has already said this, but if the one that hit us really was going to destroy a major Russian city, maybe the aliens at the last second did the morally correct thing, but in such a way that we could never prove it.

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freetoroam 19,361

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I haven't read through this entire thread, so forgive me if someone else has already said this, but if the one that hit us really was going to destroy a major Russian city, maybe the aliens at the last second did the morally correct thing, but in such a way that we could never prove it.

No, no one has mentioned this!

What do you mean anyway? that they decided to crash instead or sent a smaller rock instead of the big one? but can you imagine the size of the ship needed to be able to fire out rocks that size, that surely would have been spotted?